The limits to pride: A test of the pro-anorexia hypothesis

ABSTRACT

Many social psychological models propose that positive self-conceptions promote self-esteem. An extreme version of this hypothesis is advanced in “pro-anorexia” communities: identifying with anorexia, in conjunction with disordered eating, can lead to higher self-esteem. The current study empirically tested this hypothesis. Results challenge the pro-anorexia hypothesis. Although those with higher levels of pro-anorexia identification trended towards higher self-esteem with increased disordered eating, this did not overcome the strong negative main effect of pro-anorexia identification. These data suggest a more effective strategy for promoting self-esteem is to encourage rejection of disordered eating and an anorexic identity.

Notes

1. As one sign of the influence of this point of view, at the time of this writing, the second suggestion for someone who types “anorexia” into the Google search engine is “anorexia tips.” Someone who follows those links will connect to pro-anorexia and “thinspiration” websites that promote anorexia as a positive lifestyle choice.

2. In support of the validity of this measure, it was found to correlate r = 0.81 with scores on the full 26-item Eating Attitudes Test (Garner et al., 1982) in the first sample and r = 0.78 with the second sample, which was included at the end of this survey for construct validation purposes.

3. There were six males in the first sample and three in the second sample. Because there were not enough male respondents to test for meaningful interactions, they were dropped from the analysis. Including males did not alter conclusions from the regression.

4. Exclusion of these variables did not alter conclusions from the regression.

5. Although the majority female sample replicates previous research that collected demographic information from participants who visited pro-anorexia website (Csipke & Horne, 2007).